EMC 2017 DAY 1 WRAP UP

Looking back on day 1, Andrew Weatherall gave us huge mustache envy while telling us that he is getting back to how DJing originally was, just one or two DJs who control the evening. He finds it easier to play a massive 8 hour set instead of only 1-2.

Throughout the day, we came across some thought-provoking quotes, like the one by Ziggy Ramo during the panel When the Beats just don’t match; Mental Health in Electronic Music: “A lot of people who work in music are quite introverted and so much of what we have to do is socialising. People use vices to do this, so we need to take that stigma away and look more at the social situations of how the industry is meeting”.

Later, during the panel Kicking Goals in your own Backyard, Eva Trifanos brought the inspiring message across that artists need to give themselves some gratitude for just getting up on stage in front of 10 or 2000 people, and sharing their creativity, whether it’s 1 or 100 people because it’s not recognised enough.

Heading towards the end of the day, Uda Widanapathirana, Miss Blanks, Bryony Beynon, Dr Bianca Fileborn and Helen Marcou amazed us during their talk about safe spaces and how communities and artists can create more inclusive and accountable music environments. One of the main messages brought forward by Miss Blanks “Do your research. Don’t rely on oppressed and minority communities to do all the advocating. If they do the emotional and mental labour then shut up and listen.”

Lastly, we picked up on a key statement by Vi Hermens during the talk about Where the Streets have no Name; Parties off the Radar. He said: “If you want to work in this industry, you got to do it for the love, not for the money.” – and we couldn’t agree more.

In that spirit, later in the night, the love for music was proven by the young talents we were privileged enough to witness at the EMCPLAY events.

Thanks everybody for a fantastic first day! Check out all the day 1 highlights in the video below.